


The Day the Roots Invaded

by NvrLndBoi



Series: SH 25 Days of Pairings [10]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Christmas Tree Mishaps, Fluff, M/M, Misunderstandings, sfw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-10
Updated: 2020-12-10
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:15:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27984450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NvrLndBoi/pseuds/NvrLndBoi
Summary: Day 10 of 25 Days of Pairings: JeliornSeelies don't appreciate real Christmas trees.
Relationships: Meliorn/Jace Wayland
Series: SH 25 Days of Pairings [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2035042
Comments: 6
Kudos: 22





	The Day the Roots Invaded

**Author's Note:**

> Greetings!
> 
> I hope all of you are having a good month so far.
> 
> No Beta. All mistakes are my own. Enjoy.

Jace rummaged through the disheveled storage closet. He needed to pull out the Christmas Tree decorations that the Institute kept tucked away. This year Jace had the honor of setting up and decorating the tree for the holidays. Usually, it would fall onto the Institute Head to decorate the tree as tradition, but Alec had been busy lately with some warlock winter tradition. 

Izzy then pulled the whole ‘Alec is your Parabatai, and he covers for you, so you should too.’ Jace was well aware of the times his brother had covered for him. So he sucked it up and played right into his sister’s hand. 

Jace had been relieved that Meliorn didn’t mind having to reorganize their date. They had planned to see some more of the Seelie Realm. Instead, Meliorn was going to come over and help Jace with the tree and decorations. 

Isabelle had told him the Clave usually had the trees delivered to the Institutes. Jace had never seen anyone do it before, so he hadn’t believed her till Andrew had woken him up by banging against his door this morning because they needed him to sign-off on the drop-off. Dropping off a tree was one of the few things that the Clave never failed to provide on time. 

The tree had been massive when they had wheeled it in. Luckily the branches were being contained because of the net around the tree. They had carted it to the main entrance hall of the Institute and set it up. Jace figured it had to do something with appearances. He hadn’t noticed it before, but it was true, after the first week of December, there would always be a Christmas Tree fully decked out with decorations proudly standing whenever you entered the Institute. 

“Hey, Mel just got here,” Izzy’s voice pulled him from the mountain of boxes and his thoughts. “Are you okay? Why are you here?” 

“I’m looking for the damn tree decorations!” Jace responded, irritated as he brushed some dust off his jacket. 

“They are in the boxes, Jace.”

“This whole room is filled with boxes, Iz. So you are going to have to be more specific than that!” Jace snapped back. His only thoughts right now were on how Meliorn was here, he looked a mess, and he still hadn’t found the damn lights! 

“No idiot, I mean the ones they delivered with the tree,” Izzy responded as she rolled her eyes at her brother. “You signed the inventory list. Jace, they delivered a tree and twelve boxes. What did you think the boxes were for?” 

“I thought it was just stuff to keep the tree healthy. Mom and Dad always put stuff at the bottom,” Jace explained. He couldn’t believe he had just spent the last hour down here searching for boxes that were upstairs next to the damn tree already. “How much of a disaster do I look?” 

“Well, since we are Shadowhunters, the scratches and dirt are on point with our aesthetic but maybe shake it off your face and hair,” she teased and patted the sleeve of his jacket to get some spider webs that fell on it off. 

Jace groaned and stuck his tongue out before rolling his eyes at his sister and leaving her behind in the mess of a room. He knew he would have to back and fix that later. Right now, though, Jace was mostly kicking himself for not checking the boxes before going off and wasting time. 

“Melio-” Jace stopped mid-sprint and sentence as he reached a very angry looking Seelie. “Hey, everything okay, Mel?” 

Jace had seen Meliorn angry before, but this was a mix between disgust and anger. He didn’t know the combination of those emotions could be displayed on a person’s face, but Meliorn had proved him wrong in other ways before. 

“Jace, why do you have this?” Meliorn asked with a scold as he waved at the now fully extended tree. 

“The tree? We have one every year,” Jace tentatively explains, all while trying to decipher what about it upset his boyfriend. “The Clave sends one to every Institute for the holidays.” 

“So you partake in the barbaric ritual of decorating dead trees?” Meliorn accused him with a growl. 

It then dawned on Jace what was going on. He had never thought that the tree might be offensive to Seelies. He knew that they were attached to all things that sprouted from the Earth, but Jace never realized it would extend to this. Jace then started to wonder how many times in the past years had Seelies been angered or made uncomfortable by this. 

“When you put it that way, I can see the fault in it,” Jace answered with a sigh. “I told you I would be decorating the Institute’s Christmas tree when I had to reschedule our date. I thought you knew. I didn’t know it would be offensive, I swear.” 

Jace watched as Meliorn’s anger dissipated. He moved towards Meliorn and reached out for his hand. 

“I know I can be an idiot at times,” Jace stated as he curled his fingers in the Seelie’s hand. “But I wouldn’t purposefully ask you over to do this with me if I knew it was offensive. I would never do that to you, Mel.” 

“I know, my petal,” Meliorn assured as he kissed the top of Jace’s hair and pulled him closer. “I just assumed you meant a plastic one, especially since you mentioned having to find the boxes for it.” 

Jace leaned into his boyfriend’s embrace and sighed. 

“I was looking for the decorations, which I didn’t have to since they deliver them with the tree as well,” Jace cleared up and started to play with the long strands of Meliorn’s hair. “The Institute has one every year. Have you never seen it before?” 

“It wasn’t till last year when your Parabatai took over that we were even welcomed to enter the Institute, my nectar,” Meliorn explained and received a groan and head shake from Jace at the new pet name. “Another fail?” 

“I don’t know why you insist on calling me by names or parts of flowers,” Jace grumbled into Meliorn’s winter coat. “I’m not fragile like them; I’m a Shadowhunter.” 

It had become a small game with them. Meliorn was always trying to develop new names to call Jace, and other than Petal, all were rejected. 

“That may be true, but you hold the beauty to rival theirs,” Meliorn complimented and laid another kiss to the top of Jace’s head. “On most days, you surpass it.” 

“Is this another stab at my snoring?” Jace redirected and buried his blush further into his boyfriend’s chest. “Just stick to petal, please, Mel.” 

“That’s not fair, you know I can’t resist your pleads,” Meliorn answered and tipped Jace’s chin so that he would be forced to look up at the Seelie. “How could I deny you anything, my petal.” 

Jace felt Meliorn lean forward and kiss him softly. He eagerly reciprocated and smiled. 

“How about I deal with the tree, and you go grab your coat,” Meliorn offered. “We can go out still.” 

“What are you going to do with it?” Jace asked and raised an eyebrow as his boyfriend stepped away from him. 

“Watch.”

Jace watched as Meliorn stepped up to the tree and brushed his hands against it. The scent of burning sugar and rain warned him of what Meliorn was doing, though. After being together for so long and at times in the Seelie Realm, Jace had learned to associate that smell will Seelie magic. Jace kept watching curiously as the tree rustled a bit. He saw the small tendrils of pastel green magic bleed off Meliorn’s fingertips. 

“There. All done,” Meliorn claimed as he walked back to Jace. “It was still holding on with the water you were giving it, so it was easy to coax the roots to take.”

“Root? Take where?” Jace asked, confused. He didn’t understand why the Seelie was talking about roots. 

“There is only one room below before dirt; so I fed it some of my magic so the tree could extend its roots down to the dirt past that.” Meliorn nonchalantly explained. 

Jace felt the panic start rising as he understood what his boyfriend had done. Underneath, where it was mostly storage, there were now roots breaking through down to the dirt. There was a hole that extended two-floor technically since Jace assumed there was now a hole underneath the tree’s skirt. Jace would now have to explain to Alec why the hole that hadn’t been there previously was now there. He could already hear his Parabatai’s lecturing voice. Jace had started to wonder why the Institute alarms hadn’t been triggered yet, only to listen to the alarm signaling an infiltrator. Since Meliorn had broken the structure, Jace understood it. 

“Jace!” Isabelle’s voice called out from behind him, and he could hear the fast clicking of her heels. 

It was then he realized not only had Izzy heard the Institute alarm, but Jace had left her downstairs in the basement where there was no doubt now roots growing. 

“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Mel, we have to go,” Jace panicked and started to think of how long he could hide in the Seelie Realm before Alec would get Magnus to track him. “How am I supposed to explain the hole to Alec?” 

“Jace Lightwood-Wayland-Herondale!” Izzy’s voice came again, but this time she was at the hallway entrance staring at both of them. “Care to explain why we suddenly have a root infestation?” 

Jace groaned and buried his face in his boyfriend’s chest again.

**Author's Note:**

> Credits:
> 
> Did you know the Rare Pair Exchange is also open to Book Pairings? Don't be shy to be specific if you sign-up.
> 
> Check out the [Shadowhunters Rare Pair Exchange](https://sh-rare-pair-exchange.tumblr.com/).
> 
> If you are interested in what I am doing. Check out my [Tumblr](https://antisocial-af.tumblr.com/).
> 
> See you again tomorrow.


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